Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
The diverse essays in this book reflect Jonathan Steinberg's methodological pluralism and insatiable curiosity for historical questions which cross disciplinary and geographical boundaries. Animating students, colleagues, friends and wider audiences with his enthusiasm for 'thinking about the past' was his vocation, one that he pursued with unmatched enthusiasm. Through this collection of essays, the book hopes to convey something of the intellectual range, analytical purchase and moral purpose of his historical writing and teaching.
One feature of Steinberg's inspiring and charismatic lectures was his unique ability to combine an analysis - always fresh, never pre-cooked - of big historical structures and trends with an acute awareness of the importance of individual personalities. Jonathan Steinberg also believed in contingency, the importance of chance, and was keen to reject any form of historical determinism. The third salient feature of his work was his sense of moral purpose. He understood history as a hermeneutic science and was appropriately cautious about the epistemological status of historical claims, but he nevertheless saw the correctness of historical arguments and the probity of historical claims to be moral as well as empirical questions. His ethical sensibilities, his openness to interdisciplinary work and the humane and nuanced understanding of human motivation equipped him to tackle some of the most difficult subjects of nineteenth- and twentieth-century European history.
Synopsis
If the turn of the twenty-first century was characterised by the 'history wars' in which bitter internecine battles raged between different historical schools, Jonathan Steinberg was noteworthy for his methodological pluralism. His own historical worked spanned diplomatic history, military history, the social history of war, biography, social history, banking history, political culture and genocide studies. He often employed a comparative historical approach, which teased out deep historical explanations by examining personalities, nations and traditions simultaneously. This book offers a critical appreciation of his contribution to modern historical practice with contributions by former students and colleagues, whose own interests are as diverse as those of Steinberg himself.
Synopsis
This book illustrates and celebrates Professor Jonathan Steinberg's - a celebrated historian of modern Europe, especially Germany, Italy, Austria and Switzerland - contributions to historical practice. Professor Steinberg embraced methodological pluralism and pioneered comparative history, exploring the past through a multi-valent lens that examined the interplay between personalities, nations, and traditions.